Small beginings

When you are a crafty bod, the loveliest thing you can hear is people saying how good your work is. Its fab to hear the odd complement or two, whether it’s in real life or through good old social media.

People have been known to say, ‘oooh that bracelet is nice, you are good, I could never do that’. It’s taken a bit of time, well quite a bit of time to get here but I think that everyone has the potential to make something. Before I got the crafty bug I hadn’t done anything like it before. You’ll be surprised to know that a degree in hospitality, experience of running restaurants and working in recruitment doesn’t really set a person up for a life in craft.

I’ve seen it happen at my workshops and jewellery making parties. We are all really good at saying ‘I’m no good at making’ where really its down to having the time, the right idea and quite a bit of patience. At first I struggled to get ideas together and I see that it’s a bit overwhelming to get started. As I’ve found, there’s loads of resources out there whether it be on YouTube or Pinterest.

I started out 10 years ago with something that I thought I would like and I could use. I’ve always loved jewellery so it was a pretty good starting block. I especially got into costume jewellery when I was pregnant to dress up those massive dresses and I soon realised I wouldn’t grow out of a necklace.

The initial outlay wasn’t a lot, a couple of pairs of pliers, a box of beads and findings from hobbycraft and I was off. I think it all cost about £15.

I also started looking at the jewellery I had, how it was made, how bits were connected and what worked together. I also started pulling my jewellery apart, most of the time it was fine, but on more than one occasion I did manage to ruin a perfectly good necklace. I did go through a phase of trying to copy jewellery off the telly. I loved Toyah from Corrie’s earrings and tried to replicate them. I did draw the line at Liz McDonald’s necklaces though.

I learnt through a lot of trial and error, collecting ideas, trying my best and being patient, very patient. Go on, give it a go, you never know where it might just take you x